I started just a month ago in ernest. I have been drinking it with special dinners and once in a while for 20 years but have mostly been a bourbon and cognac man.
On a recent trip to napa I " got the bug"
I joined a variety of clubs (starting to think that was a mistake) and then got on the Internet and started buying what I thought were “deals”
Now that I have filled my cooler I am going to stop, learn more, and then start putting away things I want to age.
I can say weekends have been a blast as we have started cooking finer dishes to go with our new hobby
I first got interested in wine when I was in college, and first started buying stuff with regularity around 1973, when I got out of law school and got a job.
I was raised in Sonoma County but didn’t really get into wine until I left for college in 2003. Now, at 26, I’m back in the Bay Area and have about 80 bottles in my “cellar” (i.e., living room, dining room, and wherever else they fit).
I had my wine epiphany in 1993, and got serious about buying & cellaring wine in 1994 at age 27. I bought almost all California wines for a couple of years (still have a few of those early bottles), then had my German wine epiphany in 1996.
I regret a few of the zins I bought, but they are mostly gone now (still like Ridge & my older Ravenswoods), and the cellar is pretty much where I would like it to be. I do regret not buying more Northern Rhones and Rioja, but I am slowly correcting that error.
While I still buy quite a lot of wine it is less than it used to be, so at least the cellar inventory is stable rather than exponentially increasing as it did for years. The mantra is “less but better” and I largely stick to that.
One last regret that I am fixing a little at a time: I did not buy enough magnums!
Started in February, 2005, 23 at the time. Most bottles I had in the US was 300 bottles. Moved to Burgundy full time in 2010 and brought over 8 bottles, starting over really. This is really the first time actually ‘cellaring’ and I couldn’t be happier with my choices.
I grew up with my dad always having a couple cases of Bordeaux and Napa cab around the house in the 70’s. We would do family vacations to Napa in the late 70’s through the early 80’s which pretty much ended for me when I graduated High School in '84.
From then till '99 when my dad passed away it was beer all the way other than holiday dinners when we would all get together. When he passed my sister and I split the wine collection up and I took a lot of Ridge and Montelena from the '70’s and 80’s.
I stupidly burned through that way too fast and ended buying a lot for myself, but didn’t really hit my stride until about 2002 at age 36. and yes I regret a lot of my purchases before 2007 when I finally realized what I really like.
46 years old now, I grew up with wine because of my father, so have been enjoying the stuff my whole life.
Wine for me is something I have with food, friends and family - I never collect bottles, I drink them. I always keep a ready stock at home of around 80 bottles and replenish every month or so. Never got into buying wines to age (I don’t see the point in my own case, but can understand why others do) - I buy wines that are already pretty much drinking already.
Really started getting into wine in 2002 while visiting family in Santiago. Really liked the Chilean wines at the time.
Once back in London started drinking progressively better mature wines particularly French and Italian with friends. Wanting to build a cellar for the future I began buying em primeur with Rhone '03 vintage at the age of 40.
Now most of my wine is Burgundy, Rhone and Piedmont but is relatively young. As I’m back in the States am drinking mostly Italian while the more serious wines mature.
Start collecting in the early 90s in my early twenties. Drinking wine goes back to the late 80s in my late teens. One of my first big purchase was a mag of the 66 Petrus for $450 at a Butterfiled & Butterfield auction.
Thanks for writing my response for me LMD! Luckily, I still get to drink wines with my mother and father, who started me off at 6 years old. Whatever I have…I crack open for friends and family. Vintage doesn’t matter. Why wait.
1999 at the age of… 17 cos d’estournel 1990 did the trick, haut brion 1985 some weeks later reconfirmed I went grape harvesting that autumn in Burgundy and than it really took off, spending every cent of my student budged on wine at that time
Starting buying in '93 after drinking the family stash for years. But didn’t actually start “collecting” until '97 (@28) when I moved back from the UK.
Am I happy with my purchases … sure … would I do it differently if I could … yep!
I grew up with wine, worked in restaurants while still in high school and subsequently in college, which soon turned to a full-time career. I ended up as a sommelier, but didn’t have a steady place to live until 2000. It took me a while to find a good cellar and establish the right contacts, but have amassed a 700 bottle cellar since which has sparingly started to yield some bottles every year now.
I was lucky that when I started filling my cellar my preferences were already pretty much formed, but I too fell for the old beginners mistake of focusing on the best vintages exclusively. What does one drink while they mature? Now, I can buy some of my fave domaines ex-cellar so I have to buy every year to keep my allocations.
I cannot recall a day growing up where wine was not on the table. It was, and remains, part of my parents’ daily life and the way our families celebrate. My father started exposing me to quality wines, mostly California then (Cab and Zin) when I went to law school from 1989-1992. During this period I clerked in San Fran, and visited Napa/Sonoma with great regularity. In 1992 my father and I ended up in the same town - me with my first real job and he with a consulting gig - so we hung out for a couple of months having a great time, cooking some killer meals and drinking better and better wines, mostly now as I could financially contribute. Ironically, my dad, ever the charming ladies’ man, met and introduced me to this hot, tall Norwegian/Irish woman who later became my wife! This period corresponded with some incredible wines coming out of Cali and Bordeaux, which my dad and I bought in spades: Bdx from 1986, 1989 and 1990, and some (then) inexpensive Cali fruit bombs like 1991 Caymus for under $20.
So inspired, my wife and I took our 1996 honeymoon in Bdx and Loire. The next year my parents spent the entire Spring in a wonderful villa in St. Remy de Provence. Of course my wife and I had to join for a couple of weeks. Those 2 weeks were incredible. We drove all over Southern France experiencing tremendous restaurants and wines of all sorts, from country wine, to Gigondas, CDP, Northern Rhones and banyuls. We were hooked on Southern France.
My modest cellar remains split between Bdx and Rhone, as a result. Probably 90% of what I own and drink.
After 26 years of paying my way, exposing me to incredible culture, my father retired and my parents now spend time between the beach and the mountains. I visit them regularly and the weekends are all about food, wine and relaxation, mixed with political debate (we have wide-varying opinions in our houses). And after mooching off them for so many years, I now spoil them with the best wines I can afford. A very very small price to pay back. My parents shaped and inspired my life in more ways than I can recount.
During my late teens and early twenties my father was spending up to a month of year working in France and upon return would always have a case or so of wine. These wines and the meals we prepared with them were definitely the spark that got the fire started.
Shortly thereafter I found myself serving and bar tending to get myself through college which led me to a job at the local country club. My boss was as far from clued in on wine as could be so the wine list quickly became my problem. At 23 it was an amazing opportunity to try so many different regions and meet some amazing people within the local wine industry. Serving dinner to folks bringing in 2001 Cayuse Cailloux, 1986 Latour and the wedding with the 6L of 1994 Opus opened my eyes to the idea of laying bottles down. Now at 28 I have close to 200 btls in my little fridge collection.
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I went grape harvesting that autumn in Burgundy and than it really took off, spending every cent of my student budged on wine at that time